


Passing Strange

by ivyfic



Category: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Genre: Gen, Post Season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 20:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyfic/pseuds/ivyfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Iolaus came back from the dead (again), Hercules has been avoiding Corinth. Iolaus would like to know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passing Strange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> I have strived to be as historically accurate as the series. Which is to say, not at all.

Iolaus didn't notice at first, mostly because he just wasn't used to thinking of Hercules as sneaky. He could count on one hand (okay, maybe one finger) the number of times Hercules had been anything less than completely truthful. So it never occurred to him that his friend might have some ulterior motive.

That, and Iolaus had always been easily distractable.

~*~

Iolaus shifted away from a rock digging into his back, hands folded behind his head. Listening to the crackle of the fire, staring up at the vertiginous stars, feeling the weight of Hercules's head, resting on his stomach, he loved it. Each and every single thing—all of life, all of nature, all of _everything_. Since he'd come back from wherever it was he had been—not Hades, not the Elysian Fields, someplace else—every scent, every leaf crunching, every one of the sun's rays filled him with nostalgia, as if his previous life were a distant memory he was only now recalling. He'd only been gone for a year, but everything he remembered of that time was both clear and completely impossible to grasp. Being here, it was like learning everything over again. He felt like he'd spent eternity mourning for Greece's golden age and was then given the chance to go back to it. He thought the giddy contentment would pass, but it hadn't.

"Where to next?" Herc said from below him. Iolaus deliberately pushed his stomach out, making his friend's head bob.

"Well, we've been to Hellespont, Eubea, Ithaca, Mykonos, Mycenae—"

"Delos, Delphi—"

"Attica—Niobe is doing well."

"Yes. I'm sure that an entire fortnight was necessary to determine that she was 'well.'"

Iolaus swatted Hercules, who made no effort to dodge. "You know? I want to go see Jason. The grapes should just be ripening…why haven't we been back to Corinth yet?"

"I heard they were having a celebration for Poseidon in Piraeus in a few weeks. It should be spectacular. Wine—"

"Women." Iolaus smiled to himself.

"So we'll head to Piraeus. I'll buy you a novelty seashell."

"Oh, you will, will you? What will it say?"

"'What is man but an ingenious machine for turning wine into urine.'"

Iolaus laughed, well aware that he was jouncing Herc's head against his abdomen. It didn't matter; Herc was laughing too.

"So Piraeus, then." Herc sighed.

Iolaus let his breath out, relaxing once again. He frowned. "No, I'm serious, Herc. Why haven't we been to Corinth?"

Herc froze, and that was the moment Iolaus realized it wasn't just coincidence that every time he suggested returning to their old stopping ground there was always some monster that need fighting or feast that needed attending or old friend that needed greeting that just couldn't wait.

He sat up, knocking Herc's head to the ground with an undignified "ow!"

"Now that I think about it, why has the great Iolaus resurrection tour not made the most obvious stop?" Iolaus narrowed his eyes. "You've been distracting me!"

Iolaus whacked Herc again, and this time Herc winced, then sat up. "Why don't you want me to go to your hometown?" It didn't make any sense—they'd been back to Thebes. Visits with his mother were bound to be awkward, but even more so this time, when, after starting the story of his journey to the mortal plane, he found out that Hercules had never actually informed his mother of his death. That had hurt unexpectedly—he'd heard some of what Herc had done during his year without, and Iolaus knew he wasn't in Greece much. But even so, a man's mother deserved to know.

It all worked out, though, and he couldn't hold a grudge against Herc for sparing her the pain. Not with his history of popping over to the other side and finding a way back.

But if Herc had no problem with Iolaus's hometown, why would he avoid his own? "Is this—is this about Alcmene?"

Herc grimaced. "No. No, that's not it. It's just—" Herc got that look Iolaus had begun to realize must have hung on his friend the whole time he'd been gone. Herc tried to plaster it over with good cheer, but cracks shone through. That year wasn't going to be forgotten by either one of them.

Hercules steeled himself and met Iolaus's eyes. "You have a tombstone, there. Your body was in Sumeria, but I thought you deserved to be memorialized in a place you loved. It's probably still there—I can't imagine anyone would have taken it down."

"Ah, Herc." It made him feel funny to think of a tombstone, of Herc making one for him, visiting it. "If that's all it is, we don't have to see it. It would be really weird for me, I mean, but I wouldn't mind—but if it's too…painful, we can take the long way round."

Hercules looked at his earnest face, then lowered his eyes. "That' not all it is." He shuffled his feet, pushing a furrow into the dirt. "You remember Dahak."

"Yes, I remember Dahak." How could he forget?

"Well, you remember he possessed you?"

"Yes." Iolaus didn't like to think about that, but the knowledge was always lurking.

"You said you don't remember what he did."

"I remember being in a netherworld stuck with him. I remember hearing you calling for me, reaching my hand out to you— I remember you joining me, fighting him."

"Well, when that was happening, he was also here. Looking like you."

"Here." An idea finally coalesced. " _Here_ here, as in Corinth."

Hercules looked at him again. "Yes."

"Did I—"

" _You_ didn't anything—it wasn't you."

"But he did, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"And people thought he…was me."

Hercules nodded. "He told them that I'd gone bonkers, and that he—well, you—had to drink ambrosia in order to stop me."

"Clever. They believed that crap?"

"They've known you almost your whole life, Iolaus. They didn't know what else to do but believe you—even Jason."

"Even when I was saying you went crazy and I'd made myself a god?" Hercules looked away again. "That's not all, is it?"

"He set up a cult. Took over the gods' temples, had them worshipping you."

"That's…scary."

"It was." Hercules reached out to grasp his arm. "But I don't think you, I mean him, were there for very long. Dahak confused people. They worshipped him, some of them fought us, but I don't think anyone was hurt badly, nobody killed. And you have to forgive them; it was like some sort of possession. He had control over them, made them give in to darker impulses. When we freed you from him, that went away. But—"

"But you thought it would be better for the people of Corinth if I didn't show my face there any time soon." Iolaus rocked his head back, looking again at the stars. "Sounds like they're not the only ones who need forgiving."

"No, Iolaus—no. What he did wasn't you. It had nothing to do with you."

"Except for the part where I sacrificed my 'warrior heart' to him."

"Iolaus…"

Iolaus looked at his friend again, and this time the pain was unmistakable and unhidden. "I'm sorry." He waited for the worst of the memories to pass from Herc's face. "But I can't spend the rest of my life avoiding every place Dahak went. Corinth is as much home to me as Thebes ever was. I miss it. We have to go back sooner or later."

Herc nodded. "You're right."

"You just hoped it would be later."

Herc smiled.

~*~

After all the build up, arriving in Corinth was surprisingly normal. Iolaus noticed that they took a slightly round about approach, avoiding the main road, but he suspected this was to avoid the site of his memorial. He couldn't say he minded. He wasn't ready to face such a concrete expression of Herc's grief. Maybe he'd never be ready.

As they entered the outskirts of the city, no one remarked on their passing. If anything, it was too normal. After the third person wished Iolaus good morning, he started to get nervous.

"Uh, Herc? Are you sure about this cult thing? Cause it seems like they don't remember that."

"I don't know," Hercules said, looking just as perplexed as Iolaus.

Just then a villager waved to Iolaus and called out that he'd swing by the shop later to pick up his order. Iolaus had the vague sense he'd fallen into a play—he remembered seeing one in Athens a long time ago that had a plot something like this. _Menaechmi_ , or something like that.

He looked at Herc, but Herc didn't look perplexed anymore. He looked like he knew exactly what was going on. And like he really didn't want to have to tell Iolaus.

"Iolaus! Hercules!" Iolaus turned, expecting more bizarro misunderstandings. He was thrilled to see instead their old friend.

"Jason!" He called out and rushed to embrace him. After Hercules had as well they stepped back.

"What brings you to Corinth?" Jason asked. They'd dropped by Jason at his Cheiron's old academy—he knew the whole story of Iolaus's return. It was rather nice not to have to spend an hour on disbelieving explanations. Salmoneus had been the most trying, requiring an entire evening of repeating the story, first over dinner, then in increasing levels of inebriation, before he'd accept it.

"Thought it was time." Iolaus smiled.

"And what brings you here?" Hercules asked. "Students take over the academy again?"

"Nope. But we do let them have a vacation from time to time." Jason shifted. "And I like to keep an eye on things here."

"You know," Iolaus said, "there's something really odd—people keep greeting me like they see me all the time. Someone just told me they'd visit my shop later."

"Ah." Jason looked at Herc, then at Iolaus, then back at Herc. There was some sort of silent communication going on that Iolaus couldn't guess at.

"Well," Jason said at length. "In that case, there's someone you need to meet."

~*~

The shop Jason brought them to had a sign out front with a hammer and saw on it. Iolaus thought it must be some sort of blacksmith's—but didn't blacksmiths normally have smoke pouring from a chimney, not the front door?

Jason led the way inside. It was small and cluttered, shelves floor to ceiling covered in the oddest objects Iolaus had ever seen. A little canister with a piece of charred cloth poking out of it, round circles of glass, a metal collection of pipes welded together that was making puttering sounds and was the belching source of the black smoke.

And next to that, standing hunched behind the counter, was a blond man with some sort of apparatus on his head with more glass circles. He was focused intently on the puttering thing and didn't hear them when they first came in. The shop was slowly filling up with the smoke, and Iolaus couldn't help a cough.

The man looked up. "Jason!" he exclaimed, then hastily turned off the smoke-producing thing. The circles around his eyes made him look like an owl, but there was something familiar—

"Welcome! Welcome!" He started to step around the counter but caught himself on something unseen, causing a crash. "Ouch! Oh, drat it," he muttered, then hastily pulled off the headgear and stepped out. And Iolaus got his first good look.

Oh. Iolaus had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. He was looking at himself, but not himself. The man had the same posture, the same gait, the same smile, the same _face_ , but he was slightly less muscular. And he was covered in smudges of soot, except in a band around his forehead where the headgear had rested.

"Iolaus!" Jason greeted, giving a sidelong glance to the Iolaus beside him.

The man approached. "Are you having troubles with your gate again? I was thinking of a kind of latch where your dog could open it himself but it would have counterweights, so it would pull itself shut before any of your chickens—"

He stopped, his eyes catching on something behind Jason, and Iolaus turned to see Hercules had just stepped in, lit up by a lone shaft of sunlight from the doorway. Of course he was. "Herc!" the man said, then rushed forward to clasp his arm, nearly brushing into Iolaus. In the dim smokiness of the room, he must not have seen him. Iolaus could already tell this man had a talent for focusing on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.

"Iolaus," Hercules said, a warm chuckle in his voice like the one he used for his own Iolaus. Iolaus started to have an awful sensation of jealousy gnawing away at him. If he was right, he had a fairly good idea where this man had come from, and the confusion of names was going to be the least of their problems.

"I thought you and uh…Nautica—" Hercules started. The man interrupted him.

"Oh, long story. Turns out its harder to adapt to being a merman than you'd think!" _Merman?_

"So you and she…" Hercules trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the man in front of him.

"No, no she's here! Aphrodite kind of has a soft spot for true love, you know, so she did us a bit of a favor— But why are we standing around here? Come over to our house, I'm sure Nautica will set a few extra seats and we can tell you all about it." He smiled hugely, seeming to vibrate with energy at seeing Hercules again.

Aphrodite and mermen…Hercules had clearly left a lot of things unsaid about the year he was gone.

Hercules shifted uncomfortably. "Actually, uh, Iolaus…" It was never going to stop giving him a sense of vertigo, hearing Hercules call someone else by that name. "There's someone you should…meet."

The man finally looked around and spotted Iolaus. His jaw dropped. He looked like he'd seen a ghost which, in a way, he had. Iolaus spoke first. "You're the jester." It wasn't a question.

"Uh, yeah, uh, I was. Well, am." He gestured wildly at the wall, where Iolaus could now see the jester's hat on a high shelf, looking somewhat the worse for all the soot. "I still do it sometimes, you know, for kids' birthdays, and they seem to love it!" He abruptly ran out of steam. All the energetic joy from earlier had turned into nervousness. Iolaus felt weirdly like he was Hercules facing one of his adoring fans. This was absurd.

"And you're here."

"And you're not dead!"

"No." Iolaus pursed his lips.

"Oh! I'd heard that. You know, around. Word travels and all. But it's different—seeing you—I mean, I knew you weren't dead, but now I _know you're not dead_ , and, uh…" He looked over at Jason and Hercules as if for help.

Iolaus looked at Hercules. He could feel his face hardening, and knew by Herc's expression that he could see it, too. "I had to go back to the other world to stop the Sovereign…" Hercules trailed off.

"And this time you brought back a tourist?"

"You know!" the other Iolaus said, breaking in somewhat hysterically. "I met you once before! Well, saw you. Briefly in passing. When we were…passing. Between the worlds."

Iolaus glanced over at him and then back at Hercules. He nodded toward the door. "A word, if you don't mind?"

~*~

"So. The other Iolaus." Iolaus had pulled Herc out of the shop, and far enough away to be out of the smoke.

Herc looked like a child that had been caught being naughty. "He helped me defeat the Sovereign, and there wasn't much keeping him there."

"Yes, I know, I lived his life for a few days. I can understand not wanting to stick around. What I don't understand is why he's here. In Corinth. With a shop full of strange gadgets."

"Oh—he always wanted to be an inventor! I'm glad to see he's living out his dream."

"His dream?" Iolaus's arms flailed, and he knew he was getting loud enough for the man inside the shop— _Iolaus_ —to hear him. "How do you know what his dream is? From what I heard, he was too terrified of you to put two words together."

Hercules looked even more guilty. "Well, we kind of…traveled around together. For a bit."

"You traveled together for a bit."

Hercules nodded.

"And you never mentioned this why?"

Herc shrugged. "It didn't come up."

"It didn't come up?" Iolaus was incredulous. "Like everything else that happened while I was dead just doesn't come up." A thought suddenly occurred to him. "This is why nobody's been surprised to see me, isn't it. Oh, once you start explaining that I'm back from the dead, then they're surprised—I thought that word just hadn't traveled from Sumeria to here that I'd died in the first place, but that's not it, is it?" Hercules winced every time Iolaus said the D word, but Iolaus was tired of dancing around this particular topic. "They weren't surprised because they thought I was him. That's right, isn't it?"

Herc shrugged again, but the answer was all over his face. One of the advantages of the guy—couldn't lie worth a damn. But it turned out he could fail to mention the truth pretty darn effectively.

"Just how long of a 'for a while' are we talking here? A week? A month?"

"Well I didn't come back to Greece immediately you know, after."

Iolaus waved his hand. "Yes, I know—Briton, Norseland, Jason gave me the abbreviated version."

"So I wasn't actually in Greece for that long before you came back."

"You weren't in Greece for that long but…" Iolaus had that sinking feeling again. "But you were traveling with him the whole time, is that it?" He turned in a tight little circle, too worked up to stand still. "So can you explain this to me, then? I died—yes, _died_ , Hercules—not saying it isn't going to make it not have happened. I died and you conveniently found another Iolaus and started traveling around with him, adventuring, just like before? Lose one Iolaus, you've got a spare? Is that it?"

Herc looked ashen. "It wasn't—he's nothing like you."

"Yes, you're right, he's a jester. And yet all those people weren't surprised to see me—who they thought was him—jumping into a fight next to you, so I'm having a hard time seeing the difference."

"Well, he's a morning person. And a great cook!"

Iolaus stopped. "That's what you're going with?" Herc grimaced. "So you get another Iolaus to adventure with, and he doesn't complain in the mornings and he cooks fantastic meals for you, fit for a hero! It makes me wonder why you're not still traveling with _him_."

Herc stepped back as if he'd been struck. " _You're_ my best friend. No one could replace you. That's not what I was trying to do. I just—missed you. And he needed someone to look out for him for once and it was nothing like you and me but it was better than being alone."

Iolaus stopped pacing. "I know. I know you missed me, big guy. I'm just—really mad at you right now and I don't know why you didn't tell me about this. Is this why you kept avoiding Corinth?"

"No—I had no idea he was here. Last I saw him, he was swimming out to sea. I didn't think there was a chance you'd ever run into each other." Herc seemed to realize how bad that sounded as soon as it left his mouth.

"So since I'd never bump into him, why bother me about it, huh? You didn't think I might like to know what every single other person in Greece seems to know?" Iolaus ran his hands over his face. "Okay. I'm going to go in there and talk to that man—Iolaus—and you're going to make yourself scarce for a little while. And don't think I'm done with you. You or Jason—we're going to have words."

Iolaus strode purposefully back to the shop.

~*~

Jason and the other Iolaus were peering around the door to where his not very discreet argument had taken place. Biting back on his roiling emotions, he stuck out his hand. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Iolaus."

The other man nervously extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm, uh, Iolaus."

"Right."

Silence fell as the other man fidgeted nervously, looking anywhere but at Iolaus. Iolaus couldn't blame him—it was unsettling to look at his doppelganger. He'd met people who looked like him before—Orestes had been similar enough that the two got mistaken for each other—but this man was him, yet at the same time wasn't.

"Hercules tells me you're an inventor…?" Iolaus reached for the only thing he could think of to say.

The other man tore his eyes off of Hercules, who Iolaus could just bet was sulking, and looked back at Iolaus. "Oh! Yes! People come to me with little problems and I figure out ways to solve them. I'm very good at puzzles. Would you like to—" he gestured back at his shop, but it was still filled with smoke. When Iolaus balked, he looked back inside and grimaced.

"You know, maybe if you added a chimney? Or like a pipe on top of that thing that let the smoke out outside, like a smoke stack?"

"Oh!" The other Iolaus said. "I don't know why I didn't think of that! That's a great idea—you know, you're just like Hercules, giving me ideas. We were a great team, the two of us, he always knew just the right way to tweak…" He trailed off when he saw Iolaus's brow lowering.

"Um…maybe you're hungry? My house is just out of town—I'm sure Nautica won't mind guests! And she'd love to see Herc again."

Iolaus glanced over his shoulder. "Herc will come by later. But I'm starving. I hear you're a good cook."

"Oh, I dabble a bit…Jason?"

Iolaus glared at Jason—he hadn't forgotten that Hercules wasn't the only one sitting on this particular bombshell.

Jason stepped back, gesturing vaguely down the road. "I have work to do. At the farm. That…gate. I'll see you later, Iolaus?" He nodded at the inventor, then at the other, muttered, "Iolaus," then made his escape.

~*~

The walk to the other Iolaus's house was tense and more than a little awkward. It wasn't helped by the townspeople coming out to stare silently at the two of them. He wondered just how much explaining they were going to have to do. He hoped Hercules would break out of his sulk long enough to handle it.

Hercules. What a mess.

Now that he had a chance to study the other man, he could see differences. He wore his hair shorter and straighter. There were more wrinkles around his eyes; he walked with his shoulders hunched in. Years spent under the Sovereign's thumb, Iolaus guessed. For someone that knew him as well as Hercules did, he wouldn't have been able to overlook the differences. It would have been glaringly obvious that they weren't the same man. And yet Hercules had traveled with this man, the same way he'd traveled with Iolaus.

Hercules had had other traveling companions over the years, but Iolaus had never been jealous of them before. This one felt different. And the fact that Hercules had failed to mention it meant he wasn't the only one who thought that. Iolaus couldn't wrap his head around it.

The house was neat though sparse. Given the state of the shop, this must have been Nautica's influence, because Iolaus suspected this man would be a pack rat if left to himself. It smelled of hay from the freshly thatched roof. It was…nice. Homey.

As the other Iolaus called out for Nautica, Iolaus was reminded for a moment of what it had been like to have Ania to come home to, but he pushed that thought aside.

"I guess she's not home." The other man started fidgeting with utensils on the table.

"Did you say something about…mermen? Aphrodite?"

"Oh, yes! Nautica was a mermaid—Poseidon's daughter." He lit up at the chance to talk about his wife. "We met when there was a plot to freeze the oceans and Hercules—well, it's a long story."

"I'd like to hear it some time." Iolaus smiled, doing his best to exude an aura of friendliness. He'd never considered himself calm, but compared to this man, he was practically a statue. "Can I ask you—do I make you nervous?"

"Oh no! No! Well, okay, yes. It's just—traveling around with Hercules, everybody thought I was you at first, and Hercules talked about you, and it was just a surprise to see you in the shop and, you know, meet a real live hero, and I guess I'm just, yes I'm nervous."

Iolaus tried to decide which part of that to tackle first. "Hercules talked about me?"

"Oh, all the time. I felt like I knew you, after a while: the great hunter, the hero of Thebes, you know."

"Wait, wait, wait. I don't know what Hercules was telling you, but 'the hero of Thebes?' I'm not that."

"No but you are! I mean, people focus on Hercules cause he's, you know, Hercules, but you were there with him through all of it! And the way people treated me when they thought I was you. It's clear they thought you were a hero."

Iolaus felt his cheeks going hot. It was odd to hear what Hercules had said about him, like overhearing his eulogy.

"And, well…" the other man continued, "it gave me something to strive for, you know? You were just a regular guy and you did these great things and helped so many people, and I mean Hercules is a good guy and all but, let's face it, his father is Zeus, he was never going to be anything but a legendary hero, but you? You made a choice to be that every day, and…I admire that."

"That's…um…thanks?" Iolaus cleared his throat. "So you liked the adventuring thing?"

The other man shrugged. "Not really, no. I mean, Hercules taught me a lot, how to fight, and I loved helping people, but it was never really…me."

"So if people were always mistaking you for me, and you didn't really want to go adventuring, then why did you? I mean, why did you follow around a guy that looks just like the Sovereign, who'd lost a friend who looked just like you? I mean, isn't that a little messed up?"

"Maybe. I thought I wanted to go my separate way when I first came through, but all I'd really ever done was be a jester. I'd never even traveled on my own, and even if I had—everything's different here. I think Herc knew that I needed some time to adjust."

Iolaus leaned back on the table. He supposed that made some sense, but everything about it was still just too weird.

The other man straightened. "Oh! What am I thinking? I was going to cook something for you! Let me just—"

At that moment, Iolaus heard a woman call out his name. When he turned he saw the woman, who looked thunderstruck—this must be Nautica.

And running in front of her was a baby, only a year old. And then things got a lot weirder.

~*~

The toddler looked at the two of them for a moment, then gave Iolaus a suspicious look and ran to the other Iolaus, thrusting its arms up. The other Iolaus picked the baby up, grinning hugely.

"This is Agatha," he said to Iolaus. "Wave hi, Agatha!"

The little girl tucked her head into her father's neck shyly. She had tousled blond hair—only to be expected with both her parents being blond—and the sloe eyes Iolaus remembered from his own sons' infancies. Iolaus felt his chest tighten, looking at the other man cradling the child. There was no question who this baby's parents were.

"Jason told me I had guests." Nautica stepped forward and extended her hand. "So you're the other Iolaus?"

Iolaus laughed. "I don't tend to think of myself as the _other_ one."

She smiled. "Dinner for four, then?"

Iolaus listened to the two of them exchange information about their days, all comfortable, the way Iolaus remembered his own marriage had been. As Nautica set about getting dishes, the other Iolaus turned to him.

"Do you mind taking her for a moment?"

"No problem."

He handed her over in the manner of all harried parents, turning quickly to the hearth. Iolaus cradled her against his hip. "Hello, Agatha," he whispered to her. She wiggled a little until he turned so she could watch her mom and dad, then settled. He couldn't resist running a hand through her fine hair. She smelled like cheese and a bit like her diaper needed changing. It was a scent Iolaus remembered well from his own sons. He didn't find it unpleasant—he didn't think any parent could. If he closed his eyes, felt the warm, humid weight of her, felt her sniffling breath, he could almost be back ten years, on a farm not too far from here.

He shook himself and opened his eyes. He looked towards Nautica. "She looks just like you."

Nautica smiled, but it seemed tight. She glanced over at her husband. Just then, Agatha arched her back and almost flung herself out of Iolaus's arms. It was only old skills, long unused, that let him catch her before she upended herself. "I thought she'd grown out of that," Nautica said. "Good catch!"

Iolaus smiled. "Old hunter's trick."

~*~

The rest of dinner was simultaneously surreal and normal. With his family there, the other Iolaus lost some of his nerves. Iolaus suspected he never lost them completely—but Nautica seemed to find the bumbling charming. It was like looking through the surface of a lake, seeing his reflection, but changed by the ripples of the water. He could almost believe this might have been his life, but not quite. The other Iolaus was clearly happy. Content to be settled in a way Iolaus had never been. But it was nice to imagine, if only for a little while.

He found Hercules at Jason's after. Herc still looked sheepish. Iolaus grinned, trying to express that he regretted his earlier temper. It was still very—strange—Hercules traveling with a man that looked exactly like him and acted completely differently. But grief could be a funny thing. They'd both had their share. And the other Iolaus didn't seem any the worse for his adventures. Hell, it sounded like Hercules introduced him to his wife.

Since it looked like the other two were waiting for another explosion, it was up to Iolaus to break the ice. "You weren't kidding—that guy is an amazing cook."

Hercules smiled, relieved. "What did I tell you."

"You met Nautica?" Jason asked.

"Yes—thanks for sending her along."

"I thought you could use some time to get to know each other." Jason shifted. "And you met Agatha?"

Iolaus smiled. Hercules looked puzzled. "Agatha?"

"Iolaus and Nautica's daughter. She looks just like them."

Jason stood and cleared away the last of their supper. "Well, I'll—" Then he beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen.

"Jason?" Iolaus called after him.

"He's been like that all night," Hercules said.

"I think this situation has everybody on edge." Iolaus pulled a hunk of bread off the loaf still on the table. Nevermind that he'd just had dinner—there was always room for warm bread, fresh from the oven. And Jason always used rosemary, Iolaus's favorite.

"So Iolaus"—Herc's voice caught on the name, just for a moment, and Iolaus hoped it hadn't done that the entire time he'd traveled with the other Iolaus; talk about awkward—"and Nautica have a daughter?"

"Yes, she's about one. Darling."

Hercules looked puzzled a moment. "About one?"

Iolaus stared at the mantelpiece, where Jason had put some bunches of flowers from Alcmene's beloved garden. It looked like he was maintaining it, even now. "Do you ever think about…"

When Iolaus didn't continue, Herc _hmm_ ed around a piece of bread.

"I was just thinking about…Ania." He held up his hands. "I know we don't talk about her."

"I got the impression you didn't want to."

Iolaus shrugged. "Fair enough. But I think about it a lot, especially lately. What would it have been like if things had turned out differently for us? For you, too. Seeing the three of them—it reminded me of what it had been like, you know, to have a wife. Children."

The corner of Herc's mouth lifted. "You were a terrible farmer."

Iolaus laughed. "This is true. _Terrible_. Terrible shepherd, too. But do you think about it?"

Herc nodded. "Sometimes. But—do you think you would have been happy? Staying on a farm? Harvest season, and markets, and ploughing."

"No, you're right. I seem to recall you snatching me away for adventures even then."

"'Snatching'? I seem to remember you volunteering."

Iolaus smiled. "That, too. But I miss them. I can't help thinking—I came back. Why couldn't my sons? Or Ania."

Herc was just shredding his piece of bread, now, littering the table with crumbs. "The gods aren't often fair."

Iolaus huffed. "That's the truth." He looked up at the door to the kitchen. "What's taking Jason so long?"

As if he'd been hovering behind the door—and maybe he had—he reentered, carrying a jug of wine and three cups.

He set them down and poured, looking grim. "Drink this—you'll need it."

"What's going on?" Iolaus asked.

"Agatha," Hercules said. He was looking at Jason with a question on his face but his tone sure.

"What about Agatha?"

"She's too old. A year—it's not possible."

Jason nodded.

Iolaus was lost. "Too old for what?"

Herc looked at him. "Too old to be Nautica's. And she's not Iolaus's, either. I was traveling with him before he married Nautica. He wasn't exactly sowing wild oats. He was hung up on Nautica from the first time he met her."

"You're right. She's not Nautica's." He pushed Iolaus's glass toward him and kept his silence until Iolaus took a long drink. Jason glanced at Herc. "But she _is_ Iolaus's."

Iolaus was confused—hadn't they just said—? Then both Hercules and Jason looked at him. _Oh_. "Wait—you're saying she's my—?"

"That's not possible," Hercules interrupted, standing up from the table.

"I'm with Herc. Not possible. I'm pretty sure I wasn't fathering children a year and nine months ago. I'm pretty sure I was dead at the time."

Jason swallowed. " _You_ were. Your body wasn't."

Iolaus still wasn't getting this, but Hercules clearly was. His shoulders were raised like the hackles on a cat.

 _"Dahak,"_ He hissed.

Jason nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're saying, when Dahak was here, using my body like a puppet, leading his happy little cult, he fathered a child?"

Herc whirled around. "If she's the daughter of Dahak—Jason—she's too dangerous to leave here. Remember Gabrielle—"

"I thought of that," Jason said, "as soon as the mother confessed who the father was. We took her to Delphi. I don't know why, but Agatha isn't Dahak's. She's human. She's Iolaus's."

"But how can you be sure?" Hercules asked.

"Herc, I'm sure." Jason rested a hand on his friend's arm. "Do you think I'd leave her here if I wasn't? She's just a normal baby. Well, as normal as possible under the circumstances."

Iolaus was stunned. "I have a daughter?"

Jason sat back at the table, leaning toward Iolaus. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it seemed for the best. Agatha is Iolaus and Nautica's daughter now in all the ways that matter."

"What about the mother?" Iolaus asked.

"Daphne wasn't ready. She was little more than a child herself. She was awestruck by Dahak, like so many people. He was ruthlessly charming, but had I known at the time—" Jason left the thought hanging.

"Little more than a child? How young?"

"Thirteen."

Iolaus rocked back in his seat, sickened that he had—that Dahak had used him to—

Hercules seemed to read his thoughts. "It's not your fault."

"I know that." Iolaus shook off Herc's hand. "And Daphne—can I speak to her?"

Jason shook his head. "Her mother sent her to a temple to Hestia. She thought it for the best. And even if she was still in Corinth, I'm not sure seeing you would be the best idea."

"No. No, I suppose you're right."

Jason continued. "Iolaus and Nautica came to town shortly after Agatha was born. They'd just found out—they can't have children. Not together."

Hercules closed his eyes. "A mermaid and a human."

"Exactly. And Agatha looks like she could be their own—you saw it, Iolaus—and in a way, she almost is his. It seemed like the best solution for everybody. No one even questions where she came from. And can you imagine the stigma of growing up as Dahak's offspring?"

"She wouldn't make it to her tenth birthday," Iolaus breathed.

Jason nodded again.

"But aren't there people here who know the truth? Wouldn't it have been better for them to live somewhere else?" Hercules asked.

"There's a lot about that time that people here seemed to forget. This just became one of those things. And having Iolaus here—the other Iolaus—it helps. It was hard at first, but people accept him, and accept that he's different."

"Different than me, you mean."

"No," Jason said forcefully, "different than Dahak. The people of this town still care about you; that's what Dahak was able to use. Having the other Iolaus here means they're able to remember you as something other than that thing."

Iolaus sighed. "I'm so glad to hear that Dahak used the crush some girl had on me to—"

"Iolaus—" Herc stopped him.

"No! No, I know. It's just. A lot."

Jason refilled his cup to the brim.

~*~

They laid out bed rolls in the garden. Jason had offered Hercules's old room, but Iolaus needed to be under the stars, to think.

Hercules stretched out beside him. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," Iolaus said. "Well, no. It's a lot."

"Yeah."

"I have a daughter," Iolaus said, little more than a whisper.

"What's she like?"

"Sweet. Strong. Curious."

"Sounds like someone else I know."

"Who, Iolaus? Nah. The guy's more skittish than a sheep in a pack of wolves."

Hercules kicked him. "He's not always that bad. I think he's scared of you." Iolaus smiled, and lolled his head towards Herc. "And I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about my best friend."

"Salmoneus?"

Herc swatted him. "Quit that."

Iolaus looked back up at the stars.

After a few minutes' silence, Hercules piped up. "Dinar for your thoughts?"

"I was just thinking about second chances. Well, fourth chances, for me."

"Fourth?"

Iolaus rolled on his side to face Hercules, tucking an arm under his head. "After the boys died, and everything with Deianeira, I made a choice to follow you. At first I kidded myself it was about keeping an eye on you, but it was for me, too. I needed to be out doing something, helping people. Restless."

"You? Restless? Never."

"Oh, yes, I was always Cheiron's most quiescent pupil," Iolaus said, over annunciating.

"Never missed class."

"Always raised my hand and waited to be called on before speaking."

"Never passed notes." Hercules laughed.

"Anyway, my point is, it's what I wanted to do. See the world, fight for truth, justice—"

"The Greek way!"

"Will you be quiet? I'm trying to say something here."

Hercules's brow furrowed. "Oh?"

"Well, I always figured I'd go out in a bang, you know? Some great heroic tableau—saving the princess, conquering the monster."

Hercules was silent.

"And I did." Iolaus looked at Herc's face, saw the guilt there. "It's what I wanted—well, maybe not _wanted_. But I made that choice and I never regretted it. And now?"

"Now?" Herc said hesitantly.

"Now maybe I want a different way. I want to be an old man, Hercules. Adventuring, that's a young man's dream. I don't bounce back the way I used to. I mean, I got another chance here. I don't want this one to end the way the last one did."

Hercules rolled away from him. "This is about Agatha."

Iolaus gestured, even though Herc couldn't see it. He had to fight the urge to stand up and pace, but he felt like that would break the intimate bubble between the two of them. "Well, yes. But not just. I only had a few years with the boys." Iolaus had to stop for a moment and clear his throat. "And I spent a lot of that time running around with you."

"So you blame me for that."

"No! No." Iolaus reached out to touch Hercules's shoulder. "I blame _me_ for that. There was something in me then that couldn't sit still, and don't you believe I regretted every single day I didn't get to spend with them?"

"And that's not in you now?" Hercules shrugged off his hand. "You'd still make a lousy farmer," he said coldly.

"I don't know. But this is a second chance, too. And—I can't wait to meet the woman Agatha's going to be. I want to be here for that." He sat up so he could see Hercules's face past his shoulder.

"So that's it, then. You stay here, I keep wandering around without you, only this time it's because you chose not to stay with me."

Iolaus tugged on Herc's shoulder until he caught his eye. "You stop that. You know that's not true. I'm just telling you, things feel different now. Don't they to you?" Herc turned away again. "Even you can't keep going forever."

Hercules looked at him, his eyes filled with pain. "Herc…" Iolaus said. "We've both lost families. I know you still grieve for yours, I can see when you're trying to hide it. As I grieve for mine. And we lost each other. Maybe I just don't want to keep losing." He lay back down and looked at the stars. "We won, you know. We beat Hera, and wasn't that the start of this whole thing? And we've changed so many lives. Heck, every boy in Greece wants to grow up to be you."

"And some to be you." The strength of Herc's voice told him he'd rolled back over to face him.

"All I'm saying is, maybe we don't have to just keep going the way we always have. I don't mean me, I mean _we_. Maybe we can find another way. Leave the monsters to somebody else for a while."

"I hear this Theseus guy is pretty good."

Iolaus snorted. "Good and a lot full of himself."

"And you weren't?"

Iolaus flicked Herc's nose. "I had some good teachers."

~*~

They all went to Iolaus and Nautica's together the next day. Iolaus hadn't been able to sleep, and from the constant rolling, he didn't think Herc had either. It was like a hook had been lodged in his chest yesterday, pulling him back here. He knew he'd feel it every second of every day if he went off with Hercules again. But if he stayed here without Herc—well, he wasn't hooked on just one fishing line.

Agatha took to Hercules immediately, or at least to the piggy back ride around the yard. Herc had always had a way with kids, far more than Iolaus.

He had to make sure some things were out in the open, though. It seemed he wasn't the only one who thought so, as the other Iolaus approached him. "Jason told you, didn't he. I can tell—you look at her differently today."

Iolaus looked at him. "Yes, Jason told us."

"I guess then, you'll be wanting to…" He looked down at his feet. Iolaus looked behind him and saw that Nautica was anxiously watching them.

"Oh! No, I don't want to take her from you."

The other Iolaus immediately brightened.

"You two are her parents. I'm not going to do anything to challenge that."

"I would have fought you for her, you know?"

"Oh?" Iolaus said, amused.

"She's our daughter—we love her. I wasn't going to let a stranger take her without a fight."

"I'm a stranger now, am I? I thought we knew each other in passing."

The other Iolaus laughed.

"I'm curious about how you think this fight might have gone, though," Iolaus said.

The other man leaned in. "I fight dirty."

Iolaus whispered as well. "So do I." He leaned back. "I'll take you up on a sparring match sometime, though. Hercules tells me you've got skills."

The other Iolaus looked nervous again, but proud, too. "I hold my own."

"I'd expect nothing less from one of Herc's friends." He looked up at Herc, whooping as he galloped around the yard, Agatha squealing and pulling on his hair.

"I would like to see her, if you don't mind," Iolaus said.

"No, not at all. I'd like that. We could introduce you as Uncle Iolaus."

"Tell her I'm your twin brother."

"Or just tell her the truth."

The two of them looked at each other, then said simultaneously, "Nah."

"She'd never believe it," Iolaus said.

"Absolutely preposterous."

Herc made another loop, stopping next to the two of them. "While the Lady Agatha is enjoying her ride, I'm afraid her steed needs a bit of a breather." He bent forward so the other Iolaus could dislodge her. It took Iolaus pitching in to get her fists out of Herc's hair.

"You fought a hydra and a baby wears you out?" Iolaus said.

Herc just looked at him.

Iolaus nodded. "You're right. Give me the hydra any day."

As the other Iolaus and Agatha made their way to Nautica, Jason joined them. "Herc tells me the two of you are looking to put down a few roots? I never thought I'd see the day."

Iolaus looked at Herc. He was surprised. The way they'd left things last night, it didn't seem like Herc particularly wanted to stay. Herc just inclined his head. "Maybe I'm tired of losing things, too."

"Well," Jason said, cutting short the moment, "I've had a bit of a brainstorm. You see, I've got this academy."

"Yes?" Herc said.

"And there are quite a few students there."

"Yes?" Iolaus said.

"And I'm not quite as young as I used to be."

"Yes?" Herc and Iolaus said together.

"And it's right over the hills, quite easy to travel to Corinth and back."

"Oh, get on with it," Iolaus said.

Jason glared. "I would be honored if the famous Hercules and the famous Iolaus would teach there."

Iolaus beamed. "The three of us, back at the Academy, raising hell. Who'd've thought?"

"Well we can't be raising hell this time, we are the teachers," Jason said.

"Oh, just raising hellions, then," Iolaus amended.

"I see you've met the students!" Herc said.

Iolaus looked between the two of them. "Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me."

"You'll see," Jason said smugly, and wandered back to the house.

Hercules looked at Iolaus. "Are you okay with that?"

"Okay? This is great! Adventure and all the comforts of home, all in one package. And helping people!"

"It's not going to be easy," Hercules said.

"Since when has being your friend ever been easy?" Iolaus said. "But you know, before we turn into two stodgy old timers, boring the kiddies with stories of our glory days—"

"You're going to make such an adorable old timer." Hercules pinched his cheek.

Iolaus grabbed his hand with a warning look. "As I was saying, before we turn stodgy, maybe one last trip around Greece? Our farewell tour."

"Jason told me they do have that vacation every year."

"Okay then, maybe not a farewell tour. A reunion tour. How about that?"

"That sounds perfect."

**Author's Note:**

> This was perhaps a little overambitious for a yuletide story. Er...


End file.
